TV crime mystery shows make it look like there’s no crime or missing persons case that can’t be solved. Yet countless such cases abound. These recent books have their own theories on some of the top mysteries of the twentieth century.
A Deadly Game: (4/5 stars, currently priced at $8.99)
In this #1 New York Times bestseller, Catherine Crier, a former judge and one of television’s most popular legal analysts, offers a riveting and authoritative account of one of the most memorable crime dramas of our time: the murder of Laci Peterson at the hands of her husband, Scott, on Christmas Eve 2002. Drawing on extensive interviews with key witnesses and lead investigators, as well as secret evidence files that never made it to trial, Crier traces Scott’s bizarre behavior; shares dozens of transcripts of Scott’s chilling and incriminating phone conversations; offers accounts of Scott’s womanizing from two former mistresses before Amber Frey; and includes scores of never-before-seen police photos, documents, and other evidence.
The result is thoroughly engrossing yet highly disturbing — an unforgettable portrait of a charming, yet deeply sociopathic, killer.
JonBenet: Inside the Ramsey Murder Investigation (4/5 stars, currently priced at $7.99)
Finally, the information you’ve been waiting for: who really killed JonBenet?
Perhaps the most compelling murder case of our day, the death of six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey galvanized the nation-and years after it occurred, the mystery still endures. Who killed the young beauty queen and why? Who is covering up for whom and who is simply lying? In JonBenet, the most authoritative and comprehensive study of the Ramsey murder, a former lead Boulder Police detective, Steve Thomas, explores the case in vivid and fascinating detail-pointing the way toward an analysis of the evidence some deem too shocking to consider. Here, Thomas raises these and many other provocative questions:
-How was the investigation botched from the beginning-and why did police so carelessly allow the crime scene to be tampered with?
-Why were John and Patsy Ramsey protected from early questioning and any lie-detector tests, even though their stories and behavior were erratic, suspicious and inconsistent?
-Why was crucial evidence ignored, why were certain key witnesses unquestioned by detectives, and why were the Ramseys privy to sensitive information about the case and even police reports?
Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller’s Tragic Quest for Primitive Art (4/5 stars, currently priced at $12.74)
The mysterious disappearance of Michael Rockefeller in New Guinea in 1961 has kept the world and his powerful, influential family guessing for years. Now, Carl Hoffman uncovers startling new evidence that finally tells the full, astonishing story.
Despite exhaustive searches, no trace of Rockefeller was ever found. Soon after his disappearance, rumors surfaced that he’d been killed and ceremonially eaten by the local Asmat—a native tribe of warriors whose complex culture was built around sacred, reciprocal violence, head hunting, and ritual cannibalism. The Dutch government and the Rockefeller family denied the story, and Michael’s death was officially ruled a drowning. Yet doubts lingered. Sensational rumors and stories circulated, fueling speculation and intrigue for decades. The real story has long waited to be told—until now.
Retracing Rockefeller’s steps, award-winning journalist Carl Hoffman traveled to the jungles of New Guinea, immersing himself in a world of headhunters and cannibals, secret spirits and customs, and getting to know generations of Asmat. Through exhaustive archival research, he uncovered never-before-seen original documents and located witnesses willing to speak publically after fifty years.
In Savage Harvest he finally solves this decades-old mystery and illuminates a culture transformed by years of colonial rule, whose people continue to be shaped by ancient customs and lore. Combining history, art, colonialism, adventure, and ethnography, Savage Harvest is a mesmerizing whodunit, and a fascinating portrait of the clash between two civilizations that resulted in the death of one of America’s richest and most powerful scions.
FATAL VOWS: The Tragic Wives of Sergeant Drew Peterson (4/5 stars, currently priced at $9.99)
Drawing upon exclusive interviews with Stacy’s friends and family and even Drew himself, Chicago area reporter Joseph Hosey presents the most researched account of the Stacy Peterson case yet. Still, as the charges against Drew Peterson mount, one haunting question remains: Where on Earth is Stacy…
In October 2007, 23 year old Stacy Peterson vanished from the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, leaving behind her husband and children. Retired Police Sergeant Drew Peterson, thirty years Stacy’s senior, steadfastly asserted his innocence and maintained that his wife had simply fled their tumultuous marriage and run off with another man. Throngs of journalists and camera crews besieged Peterson’s quiet suburban cul-de-sac, but the ex cop seemed to relish this newfound limelight. As exhaustive searches for Stacy’s body turned up nothing and suggestive clues led nowhere, questions were raised about their unusual marriage, about Stacy’s past vocal concerns for her safety, and about Drew Peterson’s bizarre public behavior in the wake of Stacy’s disappearance. Then in February 2008 came a startling development. After a second autopsy, the unusual death of Petersons third wife, Kathleen Savio, was ruled a homicide. Three and a half years earlier, Savio had been found dead in the bathtub of their home, but in light of Stacy’s curious disappearance, Kathleen’s body was exhumed and the case was reopened. Two of Drew Peterson’s four wives, it appeared, had met untimely fates tragic and unexpected but hardly coincidental.
JOSEPH HOSEY has been a reporter for the Chicago area’s Herald News since 1999 and has been on the cusp of every major development in the Drew Peterson case. He is the only member of the media to cover Kathleen Savio’s inquest, having broken the stories of her death and, later, the disappearance of Stacy Peterson.
Final Vows (4/5 stars, currently priced at 99 cents)
When Carol Montecalvo began writing to a man in prison through a program at her church, she considered it her Christian duty. But these letters soon became her lifeline, something she actually looked forward to sending and receiving. She fell in love with Dan, the man behind the letters.
In Final Vows, #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury chronicles a couple’s unlikely romance and marriage, and what led to Carol’s bloody death on her kitchen floor. It seems her husband has obvious motives for murder. But is this former felon really guilty? Or could he actually be a grieving widower, in the wrong place at the wrong time, showing the wrong type of emotions when faced with his wife’s lifeless body?
Available digitally for the first time in a repackaged format, Final Vows is one of four true crime novels written at the beginning of the author’s career. These books have been re-released with new covers, a fresh edit, and a special reader’s letter from Karen explaining how the darkness in these stories became more than she could bear and prompted a dramatic career change to write Life-Changing Fiction ™.
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